A Bridge Too Low

The CRC isn’t eager to redesign a bridge that should be taller.

The proposed Columbia River Crossing has turned into a high-stakes limbo dance: How low can the bridge go?

CRC officials say
they are trying to fix one of the most embarrassing problems with the
troubled $3.5 billion Interstate 5 project: The freeway bridges as now
designed aren’t high enough to accommodate some Columbia River ships.

The project went
ahead with designs for spans with 95-foot clearances despite warnings
from the U.S. Coast Guard the bridges needed to be higher to handle
anticipated river traffic.

CRC officials have
since told state lawmakers and the public they want to address the Coast
Guard’s concerns by building higher spans with clearances of up to 110
feet.

But records obtained by WW
show that 110 feet is still too low to satisfy the Coast Guard. And CRC
officials—rather than work to redesign the bridges—are trying to get
river users to change their practices. In one case, they’re hoping two
tall-masted ships that routinely sail on the Columbia will dismantle
their masts before going under the too-low bridges.

The CRC includes two
I-5 spans, light rail between Portland and downtown Vancouver, a bike
and pedestrian bridge, and five miles of highway interchange
improvements.

CRC planning costs
have already topped $160 million, but there probably won’t be a solution
to the height problem before Oregon lawmakers are asked to commit $450
million as the state’s share of the troubled project.

With the number of
vehicles using the current bridge far below earlier estimates, projected
tolls to use the new spans will fall short as much as $600 million.

The next day, CRC
officials released a report intended to convince the Coast Guard that a
110-foot clearance would be high enough.

But records show the Coast Guard had already rejected the idea. In an Oct. 23 letter obtained by WW, the Coast Guard told the Federal Highway Administration it wouldn’t approve any span that blocks river traffic.

The Coast Guard
hasn’t said how high the CRC spans must be. The current Interstate
Bridge, when lifted, goes to 178 feet; the Glenn Jackson Bridge clears
144 feet. A midlevel bridge (with 95-to-110-foot clearance) has “a low
probability of meeting the reasonable needs of navigation or of
obtaining a Coast Guard permit,” wrote D.A. Goward, the Coast Guard’s
marine transportation director.

The CRC’s analysis
says a 125-foot clearance would add $176 million to the project’s price
tag. Adding even more to the height would require a new design and
environmental study process, as well as reconstruction of parts of
downtown Vancouver and the North Portland Harbor.

For tall sailboats
and yachts, the CRC proposes pulling them out of the water and towing
them around the bridge. Another idea: acquiring the vessel and “taking
it out of service so that the user no longer has a vessel that needs to
transit under the new bridges.”

It’s not clear whether the project budget includes money for mitigation. CRC officials didn’t respond to WW’s calls for comment.

One ship that can’t operate under the current CRC design is the Yaquina,
a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge that needs 116 feet of clearance.
The CRC suggests the Corps buy a smaller dredge, contract out dredging
to private companies, or shorten the Yaquina’s height.

All of those ideas
might take an act of Congress—literally. “Changing [the dredge] would
involve a process that would involve Congress,” Army Corps spokeswoman
Amy Echols says. No matter what, she says, just finding a fix for the Yaquina is likely to take months, if not longer.

The CRC’s mitigation plan for the tall-mast ships Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain,
based in Aberdeen, Wash., call for the ships’ crews to lower the main
masts, then raise them again on the other side of the bridge.

That idea hardly
seems practical to Joe Follansbee, spokesman for Historical Seaport, the
nonprofit that operates the ships. He says under the best conditions,
it would take two days for one ship to pass under the bridge.

“If you’re not
working for two days, you’re not earning revenue for two days,”
Follansbee says. “We have to hustle for every dollar.”

"In the low usage areas, we found that our vehicles sit idle four times longer, ultimately affecting overall vehicle availability for the Portland membership base, as well as parking for the Portland community."

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